Brooklyn Assembly members Nick Perry, Felix Ortiz, Latrice Walker, Walter Mosley and Rodneyse Bichotte along with Senators Jesse Hamilton, Bill Perkins, Kevin Parker today backed an explosive Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) report that charges Gov. Cuomo with shortchanging the city’s schools by $2.5 annually.
The withheld allocation stems from Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit settled in 2006 that found the state was not equally funding poorer public school districts. The report documents in the tens of millions of dollars how schools in some of the borough’s poorer legislative districts have been shortchanged since the lawsuit was settled.
The AQE is allied with the statewide teachers union and the report comes as a backdrop to Cuomo’s proposed budget which includes additional state spending on schools contingent on reforms that include strengthening teacher evaluations and an increase in the allotment of charter schools.
“Our community’s investment in that inspirational language arts teacher goes towards educating the next poet laureate,” said Hamilton. “Our tax dollars invested in that engaging science teacher creates the next generation of biotech researchers and nanotech engineers. Under investing in education in our communities deprives New York of the dynamic workforce necessary to compete in the 21st century. What’s more, under investment in education deprives young people of the opportunity to develop their God-given talents We insist on sustained, equitable investment in education because when we invest in education, we invest in every New Yorker’s future.”
“School aid must never be held hostage to an agenda focused on testing. The education budget should fully funded to adequately meet student needs. A quality education is not a privilege but a right,” said Ortiz, who also serves as the assembly’s assistant speaker. “The Alliance for Quality Education has done an excellent job analyzing how much Campaign for Fiscal Equity funding goes to each legislative district.”
